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' v 3 Sheets-51mm 2. J. B. ROBERTS 8u Cl SHAFER.

` Grain Separator.

N0. 239,060. Patented llVlalrQh 22,1881.

. l S-Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. B. ROBERTS 85C. SGHAFER.

Grain Separator.

Patented 4March 22,1881.

N.FETERS, PHOTCLLITHOGRAPHER. WAsmNGIO. n.0.

UNITED STATES l PATENT OEEICE.

JAMES B. ROBERTS AND CHRISTIAN SOHAFER, OF THREE RIVERS, MICHIGAN; SAID SOHAFER ASSIGNOR TO SAID ROBERTS.

GRAIN-SEPARATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part `of Letters Patent No. 239,060, dated March 22, 1881.

I ,Application led February 24, 1880.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES B. ROBERTS and GHRIsTIAN SOHAEEE, both of Three Rivers, iu the county of St. Joseph and State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Grain-Separators, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciiication.

Our improvement consists, rst, in a separating-shoe and fan, which we combine with a still-air chamber, an adjustable shed delivering upon the straw-carrier, and a conveyer.

Our improvement consists, further, in combining a fan, a reciprocating shoe having boards and a screen, an adjustable shed de livel-ing on the straw-carrier and a receptacle beyond, with conveyers, all arranged and operating within the housing of the machine, as hereinafter described.

Our improvement consists, further, in a separatingshoe located within the main case above the vibrating pans and discharging the material blown from the tail of the shoe into the main case above the said Vvibrating pans, substantially as hereinafter described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 `is a side elevation ot' the machine as viewed from one side, and Fig. 2 is an elevation of the other side. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 4 is a detail top view of the tailing-trough and connections.

A A are the wheels, B B the frame, C C the sides, and D the top, of the body.

E is the mouth, into which the sheaves are fed. (A part of this only is shown.)

F is the toothed cylinder, and F its sha-ft, carrying a belt-pulley, by which it is turned.

G is the concave. y

H is the rotary beater. H is the shaft ot' the same, carrying a belt-pulley, by which it is turned. The beater is interposed between the cylinder and the box or case of the upper fan or blower to prevent the impingement of the straw against the fan-box and consequent stoppage and clogging of the same.

`I is the firstvibrating fan supported by eyelugs J, which work on guide-rods K, attached `of the pans.

d t2, xed in the side ot' the machine.

the machine by a compound crank-shaft, L,

which is the main shaft of the machine. Connection between the crank-shaft L and the vibrating` pans is made by connecting-rods M and Ml and the lugs N secured to the bottom The bottom of pan I is without orifices. Its sides and front end are high enough to prevent the escape of its contents, except at the rear n' where, itlapsloler` the second vibrating f1, "`Thefront portion. O', of pan O is imperforate, like that I; but the rear portion has orifices, through Which the grain drops upon the inclined board or de- Ilector P, over which it slides to the receptacle or hopper Q, while a part ofithe grain drops Afrom the riddle O2 direct into the receptacle Q, from 4which it is carried by a rotary conveyer. The straw and chaff pass out through the tail of the machine.

R is a fan, operated and operating in the I usual way.

The inclined board P acts as a deector ot the blast, to prevent its irnpinging directly upon the riddle O2, and thus checking the downward passage of the grain through it.

S is an inclined board, which receives the grain (and seeds, if the latter are present) carried over the tail end of the riddle O2. This inclined board acts as a defiector, to direct the blast upward through the oscillating rake or comb T2. There are three of these rakes, T T

T2, all having bearing in the pan O, and caused to oscillate by the Inovement of the pan by means of arms t', extending upward from the rocking heads or shaft-s t, the said arms having slots at the upper' end to receive a stud,

This device is not new in this application, and requires no further description.

U is a spiral conveyer, of usual form, in the bottom of the box or receptacle Q, and turned by a belt-pulley, V. This conveyer carries the contents of box Q sidewise into the bottom of the elevator-trunk W, whence it is carried by the buckets oo of the elevator Xto the chute or hangers a, having bearing, by side pins at their upper ends, in the sides U of the body. The shoe receives its motion (which is endwise to the machine) from an oscillating level', b, that is hinged to one of the sides C, and is caused to oscillate by a lever, c, that passes through it and through a fulcrum-eye, d, and whose lower end is turned inward, and is connected to the pan O, extending through an orice in the side O. The connection between the lever b and the shoe is made by a link, c, pivoted to the lever, and connected to the shoe by a pin or stud, f, descending from the shoe and passing through the link. The shoe Z has inclined boards z and z and a screen, z2. The grain passes over the screen and drops olil the front edge into the conveyer-trough g, and is carried by an ordinary spiral conveyer, h, into the sacker and measurer Z. The conveyer is rotated by a belt-pulley, ZZ', 011 its shaft.

The sacker Z is not a novel feature in this invention, except in combination with the reversible spiral conveyer h and such construction of machine as allows the sacker to be attached to either side of the machine so that the cleaned grain may be taken from either side, as may be most convenient. The attachment is made by an orice in the sacker, which lits on the mouth of the conveyer-trough, and on which it is held by a button, Z2, and by pins at the inner side of the sacker, which rest in staples i. The conveyer h is made reversible by a straight or twisted belt on the pulley h. The bag-holder at the bottom of the sacker has a curved toothed bar, j, hinged at the ends to the sacker, and operated by a handle, j', held up by a ratchet-rack, jz.

The operation of the shoe Z is as follows: The grain, divested of the straw and most or all ofthe chaff, is delivered by the elevator X and chute or spout Y onto the inclined board or plate z, and falls from its lower edge upon the screen z2. The grain falls from the front end of the screen into the trough g. The tailings are carried back by the blast from the fan lc and drop into the tailings-trough Z. This trough works transversely in the shoe, and is inclined downward to the discharging end Z, where the tailings fall into the hopper m at the lower end of the elevator m, and are discharged at the upper end of the elevator into a trough, fn., by which the tailings are conducted to the mouth of the machine. There is nothing new in this elevator, except in its connection with the transversely-reciprocatin g tailings-trough Z and elevated shoe Z. The grass-seed and other small seeds fall through the screen z2, and are subjected to the force of the blast (from fan 7c) and carried over the adjustable board o, and over that p into the hopper or box q. The box q has the form of a trough with inclined sides q and q2 extending from side to side of the body. In the bottom of the box or hopper q is a spiral conveyer, s, carrying the seeds out through a spout, s', to which a bag may be hung, or beneath which a vessel may be placed, to receive the seeds. The conveyer s is rotated bya beltpulley, s2.

In Fig. 4 is shown a top view of the .tailingstrough with the operating-levers connected to it to cause its endwise reciprocation in direction at a right angle with the direction of movement of the shoe. In this figure there are boards z3 of the shoe descending into the trough, inside its sides, so as to guide all the tailings into the trough. The trough is supported in hanger-stirrups z, attached to the shoe. The position of the sides C of the body and of the sides of the shoe is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4. The tailings-trough has,

of course, vibratory motion with the shoe. The transverse motion of the trough is imparted to it by the lever b through the medium of the connecting-rod b and the bell-crank or anglelever b2, the connecting-rod engaging with the lever b by its down-turned end passing through said lever, and the other end being similarly connected to the bell-crank lever b2. The inner arm of the bell-crank lever extends along outside the side G of the body, and has a downward stud, b3, passing through a slot in a lug, Z2, extending from the tailings-trough Z.

The operation has been described in detail.

Some of the advantages of the invention may be briefly stated as follows: By only partly separating the grain from the other matters in the lower part of the machine we are enabled t0 use shorter pans and a smaller fan with a single perforate riddle, o2. This modification in construction shortens the body, and by the decrease in height of these parts (chiefly owing to the decreased size of the fan) we are enabled to place the feed-mouth and cylinder much nearer to the ground, thus considerably decreasing the labor of passing sheaves to the feeder. The grain being carried upward and forwardis delivered to the sacker from a greater elevation, and has a second course backward through the body of the machine, where the different matters are separated much more perfectly can be done with one operation. Thus the small seeds are screened out of the grain and blown with a strong blast over the two inclined boards o and p, and subside in the stillair chamber to the rear of board p. The tailings are carried away by trough Z, and the larger and lighter impurities are blown over the board o, and fall down upon the matter, passing over the pans, being carried forward by the inclined board p, so that any grain may have sufficient opportunity to pass down through the straw and fall into the box Q.

We claim as our inventionl. `The combination of separating-shoe Z and fan k with still-air chamber g, adjust-able shed 19, delivering upon the straw-carrier O, and conveyer s, as and for the purpose set forth. v

2. The combination of fan 7c, reciprocating shoe Z, having the parts z, z, z2, z3, and o,

IOO

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adjustable shed p, delivering on the straw the shoe into the main ease above said vibratcarrier and receptacle q beyond, with the coning-pans, substantially as and for the purposes ro veyers h, z, and s, all arranged and operating set forth.

within the housing of the machine, substan- JAMES B. ROBERTS. 5' tially as set forth. CHRISTIAN SGHAFER.

3. The separating-shoe Z, located Within the Witnesses: main ease above the vibrating pans and dis- JAS. H. LYON,

charging the material blown from the tail of GE. JOHNSON. 

